IT industry seeks slew of concessions

IT industry in Visakhapatnam, which is facing the heat due to market meltdown, has sought several concessions to increase its turnover.

While the demand for investment in Rushikonda IT Park is encouraging, the park set up Gambheeram has not received any taker so far for want of basic infrastructure.

During their interaction with Union Minister of State Communications and IT Killi Kruparani, AP Minister for IT Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Union IT Secretary J. Satyanarayana, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Director-General Omkar Rai, here on Monday the IT entrepreneurs said they were expecting more sops to promote Visakhapatnam as IT destination.

In their response, Ms. Kruparani and Mr. Lakshmaiah promised to make Visakhapatnam as a hub for software as well as hardware industries. Ms. Kruparani promised to consider developing IT Investment Region in Visakhapatnam and speak to Union Minister for Communications & IT Kapil Sibal and others to get sanction for it.

Initiating the discussion at a workshop organised by STPI with the support of NASSCOM, Visakhapatnam IT Association (VITA) and Rushikonda IT Park Association (RITPA), IT investors sought exemption from Minimum Alternate Tax for units operating in IT SEZs, solution to service tax and TDS issues and augmenting of infrastructure in IT Parks.

RITPA president P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and vice-president O. Naresh Kumar said they were waiting for incentives to raise IT exports from Rs. 1300 crore to Rs. 5,000 crore in the next three years. They pointed out that Hyderabad had exported Rs. 40,000 crore and Visakhapatnam only three per cent of it requested steps to increase it to at least Rs.4,000 crore.

Slideshow

Workers carryingout repairs to Visakhapatnam District Collector's Office, as it was damaged in Cyclone Hudhud in 2014 October. The majestic heritage building was designed and built by Dutch engineering company Gannon Dunkerly in 1865 and completed by 1914. Photos: C.V. Subrahmanyam